Every January in Boat International magazine a list of the 101 largest superyachts in the world is published. These are mind-blowing behemoths, but it’s the prosaic detail, rather than the big-ticket opulence, that speaks loudest. On the 156m Dilbar, the fifth largest yacht in the world, there are 1,000 sofa cushions and 1,100km of cabling, about the distance from London to Avignon. It took 4,000 people six million man hours to build Azzam, the longest yacht in the world at more than 180. It’s also worth noting that an owner will typically spend 10 per cent of a yacht’s original price on running costs each year. When you apply that to a $500 million boat, it affords a glimpse of the wealth and passion behind these creations, as well as the miniature economies of boatbuilding they support. To inject the new year with a dose of waterborne glitz, here are the 10 biggest yachts in the world today.
1. Azzam, 180.6m
Rather surprisingly, the colossal steel hull of the longest yacht in the world was built for pace — its owner wanted to zip to his private island near Abu Dhabi quick (and very smart). At 31.5 knots, Azzam delivers a top speed similar to a Royal Navy destroyer. That’s thanks to the German yard Lürssen’s powerful combo of gas turbine and diesel engines driving water jets, together churning out 97,000hp. The exterior designer Mario Pedol, of the Milan studio Nauta Design, instilled the appearance of speed in the exterior of this 2013 launch too, with elegant proportions and pared-back lines. The interior decor by the French designer Christophe Leoni remains a closely guarded secret even a decade after delivery but is known to feature a lavish 19th-century Empire style, with a quantity of marquetry rumoured to have cleaned out global supply of mother-of-pearl for a year. The 36 guests (attended by up to 80 crew) can puff it out in the gym, pool or golf-training facility, or socialise in the 29m x 18 main saloon, where open-plan, pillarless architecture and full-height windows necessitated 7cm-thick glass.
2. Eclipse, 162.5m
The jewel of Roman Abramovich’s superyacht fleet has made star turns from St Barth’s to New York, but the political climate has turned many jet-set hotspots into hot water for prominent Russian owners. On its 13th birthday in December Eclipse was sitting in the cooler port of Marmaris, Turkey. This nine-decker is a thoroughbred, built at the German yard Blohm+Voss, now part of Lürssen — a name that pops up repeatedly in the Top 10 list, along with Eclipse’s designer, Terence Disdale, whose laid-back interior adheres to his signature “beach house not penthouse” style. Show-off size was never the goal, it just had to be big to accommodate the owner’s wish list of facilities, including space for three helicopters and a huge pool. The latter has a retractable glass roof and a blue granite bottom that rises to become a dancefloor. The beach club (a social space at water level) is served by its own pantry, pizza oven and barbecue. The lower-deck wellness area, meanwhile, comprises a 77 m gym, beauty salon, massage room, sauna and plunge pool, while portholes give an underwater view of the main pool.
3. Dubai, 162m
Originally commissioned by Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei’s brother, this yacht was sold to the Dubai government partway through its build and moved from Germany to Turkey for completion in 2006. The vivid interior includes a pool clad in tiles that are imbedded with fibre-optic lights. There’s a cinema, a disco and a water-toy arsenal including a submarine.
4. Blue, 160.6m
Terence Disdale aimed to imbue the lines of this 2022 yacht with feminine elegance. Inside, Blue is divided into VIP, entertainment and wellness decks — and, crowning it all, an owner’s deck where the vast master suite is flanked by balconies. Lürssen focused on green tech for the project, incorporating a bespoke diesel-electric hybrid propulsion system and exhaust treatment system and using a cutting-edge membrane to ensure wastewater is disposed of in “drinking-water quality”
5. Dilbar, 156m
Many reasonably say that judging a yacht’s size by its length is a little unfair — if you go by gross tonnage (interior volume), Dilbar tops the charts at a staggering 15,917 tonnes for just 24 guests. Packed into that 3,800 sq m space is the largest pool installed on a yacht, at 25m two helipads and a garden planted with Mediterranean greenery that will thrive in the yacht’s regular Côte d’Azur haunts. Lürssen delivered Dilbar to the Uzbek-Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov in 2016.
6. Al Said, 155m
This 2008 Lürssen giant was designed with a nod to classic cruise liners by the ultra-cool Norwegian superyacht designer Espen Oino for the former Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said. It is believed to accommodate 200 crew and 70 guests, who can choose between entertainment in the concert hall or cinema.
7. A+, 147.2m
A+ Yacht, previously named Topaz
With graceful lines by Tim Heywood and interiors by his fellow Brit Terence Disdale, this mammoth 2012 Lürssen yacht is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, owner of Manchester City FC. With two pools and a treasure trove of water toys, it’s a hit on the celebrity circuit — Leonardo DiCaprio has reportedly chartered it twice.
8. Prince Abdulaziz, 147m
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The Danish shipyard Helsingor Vaerft (better known for building Saddam Hussein’s 82m Basrah Breeze) delivered this yacht to Fahd, then the Saudi king, in 1984. Its interior was designed by David Hicks, the great English decorator known for bold pattern and fantastical colour combinations. Features include a mosque, hospital and cinema, as well as a lobby modelled after the one on the Titanic.
9. Opera, 146.3m
The newest entry to the Top 10, the Lürssen-built Opera was designed by Disdale and launched in March last year for a member of Emirati royalty. The interior is top secret, but we know it has two helipads, a 10m pool, a vast spa and a cinema.
10. OK, 146m
When the owner of the vessel now known as OK saw the 1982 Japanese-built transport ship Super Servant 3, he decided it was ripe for conversion into a world-roaming explorer yacht. It’s easy to see what inspired him: the whole aft part of the vessel — 100m — can be submerged, leaving just the forward 46m of superstructure above water. This feature, in conjunction with a 40-tonne crane, means the owner’s 46m ketch and a host of water toys can be easily stored and then floated in situ following the boat’s 2022 relaunch at the Turkish yard Karmarine. Revamped accommodation by the young designer Timur Bozca includes cabins for 20 guests, a sundeck spa pool and a botanical garden.
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